


Back Up

by arexasaurusrwar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst isn't Allowed, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, I Live In Fear, I Will Never Have A Beta, Jedi Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-13 23:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14123067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arexasaurusrwar/pseuds/arexasaurusrwar
Summary: "Everyone needs to know where they come from. Ben deserves to know the truth about who his family is. It doesn’t have to be some pretty story about a princess, a smuggler and a Jedi."





	Back Up

Even in theory, what she was planning was highly improbable. Hyperspace was somewhere between travelling at and faster than the speed of light. Which meant that using lightspeed to time travel wasn’t possible.

The young Jedi was going to try anyways, with a little help from the universe.

As she flew up to the black hole, Rey was glad that she wasn’t in the Falcon. Losing that ship by jumping into hyperspace through it was, frankly, stupid. Her calculations were correct, she knew they were in her bones, but that didn’t mean her soul could last through the travel.

Rey couldn’t go before her birth, because then her energy wouldn’t have anywhere to go. She didn’t want to go back to when she was a toddler who couldn’t function. So, she chose her second year on Jakku, when people started needing the little desert rat.

The Force was already pulling at her. She took a breath, hit the switches and closed her eyes. Whatever happened, she would remain calm. Even when it felt like her body was torn apart. For a long time, all Rey did was scream. It felt like it could last forever.

Then, all at once, it stopped. And Rey was boiling.

She groaned as she felt her surroundings with the force. The familiarity shouldn’t have been a shock, but it was. She had known where she was going to end up, but when her eyes open, it still felt like a dream.

Rey tried to get up but was met with soreness and angry muscles. Her younger body didn’t want to respond to her commands, just be in pain. Rey couldn’t stand, so she crawled. She made it to the door of her AT-AT before collapsing.

A day passed before she woke up and she tried leaving again, this time eating what was left of her rations. With her energy up, she made it into town. Mind tricking Unkar Plutt into giving her more food than ever was just a flick of her wrist. Stealing the first ship she saw was even easier.

And if she had to jerry-rig the controls for her underdeveloped body, well, no one would ever know.

Finding Luke’s Jedi Temple didn’t take long, Leia had already shared all the stories of the Trio setting the academy up. Han, apparently, had went all in on helping because it meant he could avoid his pregnant wife. Rey even knew where Ben’s hutt was already. Han had decided it specifically for his future child.  Ben was always meant to be on the outskirts, a loner even before he was born.

Han hadn’t meant it that way, wanted to give his child privacy, but it’s never what Kylo thought.

Leaving the safety of her ship, Luke’s presence set her on edge. Through the force, she knew that he couldn’t understand why he set a small desert runaway off so easily. “Would you like to train here?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t make friends with any of the other Padawans. She paid attention to who was rude to Ben, who didn’t speak to him and who tried to be nice. Figuring out which of them were the Knights of Ren was simple, and she avidly avoided anyone else. 

If she couldn’t save them, she didn’t want to know them. Rey was set on saving Ben, however, but he was never one to make things easy.

 

 

Most days, Ben avoided her.

Most nights, Rey didn’t let him.

Their huts were close together, and she could easily plunge into his mind from her own room. She smiled when she caught up to him, banishing the darkness from his dreams. “Hello,” She said simply.

“Why do you keep showing up? I don’t even like you!” Ben growled, aware of her presence even though he doesn’t look to her. In his dreams, she always seemed so  _bright_. It was hard to look at.

Rey shrugged, “I don’t like to be alone, and I don’t know how to control my abilities.” She smirked at him, “Better question would be why you let me.”

Ben did not answer this.

The girl tuned into his mind and shifted the scene to Naboo, “I’ve always wanted to come here.”

“You’re from Jakku. Who on that miserable planet has been to Naboo?” Ben asked, curious. He took control and set them at the palace’s front entrance. “My grandmother was Queen, once.”

Rey smiled lightly, the heartbreak of his loss overtaking her thoughts, “The only person who has ever really loved me told me everything about this place before he died.”

“I thought you said that your parents abandoned you.” Ben didn’t like bringing it up, because it always darkened Rey’s natural light. She was always upset when she thought of her parents.

“They did. He was my best friend, though. If he hadn’t been shot, he never would’ve left me.” Rey ignored her hatred towards her parents to long for Ben’s presence. Not sulking, angsty teenager Ben, but the man she knew. It would take years and she was willing to wait. Doesn’t mean she had to like it.

Ben’s aura dimmed at the love radiating off her, “If he loved you so much, then he wouldn’t have put himself in the position to be shot. What’d he do, steal from some smugglers?” He knew that his Dad shot people for theft. Smuggling was a dark, risky business.

Rey’s laughter threw Ben’s thoughts into a loop. “Oh Force, no. He would never deal with smugglers. No, it was deemed fit by the law that he be executed. No matter how much I pleaded, they refused to listen. He had become too dark for the world to forgive, even if I did. I couldn’t save him.”

“You speak too wise for one so young,” Ben decided with a suspicious glare. For a seven year old, Rey had great control over her practice sabers and she often impressed Luke by how she blocked out the Darkside. She would become a Padawan much younger than Ben had. 

Rey couldn’t smile, not saying anything else. She felt Snoke’s presence. Ben did as well, and since he could never allow such a dark force around the little girl, he tried blocking his dark Master. Rey pushed against the darkness as well. The two working together meant that Snoke could not twist Ben’s mind.

When it was clear that they were done talking for the night, Ben took her on a silent tour through the city before the dream ended and they woke up.

They never spoke of their shared dreams in the morning, but that night changed something.

 

 

It took months of sneaking into his dreams, but Ben finally stopped ignoring Rey during the day. He had started taking interest in her while he was practicing himself. While he trained, so did she. If he mediated, she was on the mat next to him. If he was figuring out a new saber form, she acted as his attacker. Whatever Ben did, Rey was with him.

Because of this, she was top of her class. The other younglings didn’t care about their training until they were old enough to be Padawans, and Rey refused to talk to them. She couldn’t bear to become friends with people she knew might die unless she got Ben to refuse Snoke’s offer of Darkside power.

Ben was frequently frustrated that Rey was not apprenticed. No one was good enough for her, of course, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready. She could defend herself against him. Certainly, this meant that she should be allowed to advance before her peers. She wasn’t interested in their company anyways. She was closer to him and his fellow Padawans than anyone else.

When he brought this up to his uncle, Luke was forced to point out that the girl was only eight years old and she wasn’t old enough to go on missions. This sometimes led to the Jedi berating Ben on how the young man should be focused on his own training rather than Rey’s.  _Attachments lead to the darkside,_ He reminded Ben _._ That never failed to set Ben off.

These fights meant that the two did not speak for days. Ben quietly internalizing his anger and Luke unabashedly ignoring his nephew. Rey was caught between the two, usually playing mediator until Luke cracked and taught Ben a new Jedi trick. It was a win-win for her and Ben, even if it meant that there was a little discourse in the family. She forced Ben to teach her whatever he learned.

Rey hated it when they fought, but she couldn’t help but love the fact that she could do the sleep trick. It was especially nice when she was getting stalked by the other younglings wanting her to play with them. She wasn’t eight, she was twenty-five. She didn’t want to  _play_ with children. Gently putting them to sleep was amazing.

“You really must stop doing that,” Ben pointed out, crouching behind her as she set the other boy against the wall. She didn’t jump like he suspected, mostly because she could feel his presence wherever he was on the planet. She was already in tune with him as if they were bonded. They weren’t, however.

The loss of the bond was something that would never stop bothering Rey, but she didn’t know how to recreate it. Plus, Luke would never let them see each other again if he knew they were that close.

“I don’t want to play stupid games with them,” Rey pouted like the child her body made her seem. She looked at her peer and grimaced. Sandu was insanely nice, which meant that he wasn’t someone she would ever be friends with. Not until she was sure that Ben and his friends wouldn’t kill everyone.

Ben rolled his eyes at her attitude, “You won’t be saying that when you’re apprenticed and forced into actual battle, young one.” Rey grimaced. It had only been a few hours after Luke fought with Ben about Rey and this time, Ben was taking Luke’s words to heart.

Rey glared at the older boy, “Why won’t you admit that we’re friends? That you like being able to teach me?” She spun on her heel and went back to her hut, pretending to sulk until Ben came to his scenes.

It only took an hour.

 

 

Four years after Rey had landed in the past, Ben was knighted and almost immediately given Rey as his Padawan.

Ben had begrudgingly accepted Rey into his life, even though she constantly annoyed him during his training. Through her, he had bonded with his classmates. Rey assumed that they were the original Knights of Ren, the outcasts in the academy but it didn’t matter. Rey refused to let them go Darkside.

Kress and Sula were a few years older, but as the only other Master and Padawan pair, they spent a lot of time together. Rey and Sula were the only ones who were advanced enough to go on missions, and the other younger force-sensitives were still too young to be appreciated.

Since Ben had Rey to fill his attention, and Kress was always looking out for him, Luke turned his focus onto the others. Specifically, Miko, who was also close to the darkside.

Rey quietly started paying attention to her fellow Padawans and made friends with the elder boy. He was only four years older than her, and she grinned when he and Sula started dating.

In fact, Rey had quickly become the matchmaker of the academy. She was trying to force Luke’s hands in giving up the attachment rule and it was working. It wasn’t officially okay, but Luke didn’t threaten their sabers when he saw people holding hands.

“I thought you wanted to date Sula, honestly,” Ben pointed out one day after they had started meditating. Rey quickly fell out of her trance and the rocks around her fell to the ground. “Focus, Rey.”

“How can I focus when you say something like that!” Rey hissed, glaring. She wouldn’t be this angry if anyone else had said it, but this was him. Ben should know better. She only took interest in others so that he would be forced to have other friends. He and Kress were already bonding over their spitfire young Padawans who continuously got into mischief. Her plans were working perfectly.

Ben shrugged, “You two seem close, and you’re so desperate to change the attachments rule.”

“Because that rule is stupid.” Rey pouted, angry that she couldn’t explain  _why_. She had to keep lying to Ben just like the rest of his family. A lonely scavenger girl couldn’t figure out that Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader. She couldn’t know that Vader had turned lightside at the end.

Sensing her change in mood, Ben frowned, “Calm down, Rey.” He remembered his own unstable anger and hated seeing it inside her. He stood up, “Let’s go get food, maybe then you’ll feel better.”

Rey couldn’t help but grin at her friend. Ben already knew more about her than Kylo ever had. “Food  _always_ makes me feel better.  Do you know what they’re serving today?”

“No, now run along and go check before I go too far. If Luke’s got his way, it’s probably something disgusting. I have better food stored in my hut than he decides to make.” Ben pointed out with a grimace.

Rey didn’t want to listen, but she also hated Luke’s love of milk-based meals. She could not handle more. “Fine, but if we go back to the hut, you’re making my favorite and not yours!”  As Rey ran, she was filled with the sound of Ben’s laughter. That’s one thing he had over Kylo. His laugh was beautiful.

 

 

When the door to the ship slammed shut, Rey flinched. She hadn’t seen  _this_  Ben so filled with rage. His darkness was overwhelming, and Rey had to keep her shields up to block it out. She could feel his craving for the hunt, still wanting to go after their target. Rey looked over at him through the corner of her eye and quickly went back to trying to launch into hyperspace before he noticed.

“I’m not sorry.” Ben hissed menacingly as he sat down in the co-pilot’s chair. At least they weren’t going to fight about that too. He knew better than to rile her up about that too.

“You should be.” Rey replied lightly, not letting his attitude get to her. She refused to tolerate this behavior, as he was being unreasonable about everything. They were already leaving in disgrace.

Ben glared into her soul. He could see her squirming under his gaze and emphasized why he felt so much anger, “He tried to  _kill_  you!” Ben didn’t care about the mission, just that Rey got hurt.

“I was fine, and this was a peace mission.” Rey didn’t want to irritate him more, just make him see the error of his ways. Force-throwing someone across the street wasn’t a level-headed move, especially for a grown man.

Ben scoffed at her reply, “Peace missions don’t include blasters pointed at children.” Rey swallowed a laugh, mostly for Ben’s benefit. He had not paid attention to Luke or Leia’s stories and right now wasn’t the time to bring that up. Unaware of her amusement, he continued, “Also.  _Fine_?! You were in a bacta tank!”

“For a day, Ben, and I only needed it for my leg.” Rey brought said leg up into her chest, resting her foot on the edge of the chair. She rubbed where the injuries had been, her entire body felt soft and light after being in the bacta. “See? All clear.” Her leggings were short, so her tan skin was clear to see.

Ben stood up, turning her chair towards him and hovering over her body, “You were shot three times.”

“In the  _leg_!” She poked at his chest, getting him to back out of her space more. He  _knew_  that she was claustrophobic. “It didn’t even hit a major artery, he was a terrible shot. We didn’t need to fail over it.”

“You’re twelve and you’ve now been slashed, broken and shot! I don’t care if it’s a failure, I have to get you out of here.” Lights began to flicker as Ben’s anger became explosive, “You could have died!”

“That is a giant exaggeration.” Rey turned away from him, hoping to settle him by radiating peace. If she remained in a peaceful state, he would chill out. Probably.

“I can’t lose you, Rey!” 

Rey flinched at how broken her name sounded coming out of his lips. Refocusing on her primary goal, she didn’t want this darkness to overtake them over something so trivial. “Hold on,” She quickly overtook piloting until their direction was stabilized in Hyperspace.

She bit her lip as she put the ship on auto pilot a couple minutes later. “I get that this mission was risky, so let’s take a break.” Ben raised an eyebrow, silently judging her idea. She could practically hear his rejection of the idea as if he had spoken. “I want to meet your mom.”

Ben sputtered nonsense and Rey sat back, putting her feet in his lap. She should give him a minute to collect his thoughts, but she wasn’t that nice. “Don’t touch my controls. This is happening.”

Ben took a few minutes before muttering, “My father will be home too. In her last message, she said that he would be returning soon. That was a couple months ago, so based on experience, he has only been back for a week.”

“I’ve always wanted to meet the famous Han Solo.”

 

 

Leia was younger than Rey had ever seen her. With Han at her side and her son in her sight, she blazed happiness. Rey’s heart flew. Leia would never have those sad eyes when speaking of her son.

For the first time, Rey was glad to be stuck in the past.

Han raised an eyebrow at his son, “Luke trusted you with a kid, kid?” Last time he talked to his brother in law, Ben was still a loner. Han shared a look with his wife, who couldn’t stop smiling.

Rey, however, her smile faltered. She looked at Ben and then at Han again before saying, “Your son’s cool, but I’m not calling him Master and if he ever called me  _his Padawan_ , I’d throw him into the trash heap.” Leia’s laughter was worth Ben’s light annoyance. In retaliation, he used her head as an arm rest.

“Don’t mind her, she’s got a complex about her young age.” Ben grinned as Rey’s elbow went into his side. He stood up straight as he half-hugged his father before being overtaken by his mother.

“I’m Rey,” Holding her hand out for Han, she grinned, “And I know where the Falcon ended up.” The whole family perked up at this, Ben’s eyes meeting her own with confusion. “What? A ship like  _that_  on Jakku stands out.” There’s no way she changed that event, at least. She was sure of it.

Han looked to his son, “I like her.” Leia laughed and even Ben had a little shake to his shoulders when he saw Rey’s pride shine at his words. He was so happy that his family had already accepted her.

Rey’s communicated beeped and when she looked down at it, she snorted. “Kress wants to talk to you about the podracing and you’re not answering, as usual.” She narrowed her eyes, “Sula and I are going to start messing with you two if you don’t handle your betting yourself.”

“ _Betting_?” Leia hissed at the same time Han asked, “Which races?” The elder woman turned her glare onto her husband, who just grinned sheepishly.

Rey grinned at Ben’s flustered blush. “It’s all very legal, I assure you.” She caught Han’s eye as she added, “And he’s  _very_ good at winning, much to his best friend’s disappointment.”

Leia’s eyes lightened at the term, which Rey had already known would happen. Han was finally excited to have something to talk about with his son, something they could bond over. “I’m not that—”

Han shook his head, “Nonsense! I’m sure Rey wouldn’t lie. Luke told me that your piloting skills had increased too.” He wrapped his arm around Ben’s shoulders and led his son inside.

Rey watched them, smiling brightly as Ben turned to her with panic in his eyes and mouthed  _help me_. Leia cleared her throat and brought Rey’s attention back to the older woman. “You’re good for him.”

The young apprentice shrugged, “We refuse the typical Jedi relationship. He’s my friend.”

“That, my dear, is the biggest lie of the era.” Leia had that look in her eye when she knew the truth, that sparkle that only came from Force-given knowledge. Leia led Rey into the house, motherly instincts taking over. “You two are much more than that.” 

 

 

Rey sat down at the dinner table and immediately asked, “Any idea why your brother will project dreams of Darth Vader?” Han choked on his drink and Leia looked murderous.

There goes the pseudo-mother relationship Rey had wished for.

Persistent as always, Rey continued. “See, I’m confused on a lot. Like why is he blue under the helmet? And who’s the weird dude with weirdly long hair? Why does he call both men Father? I try to stay out of Luke’s mind, but every time he has that dream, I can’t help but be pulled in.”

“You never told me about that,” Ben murmured, looking slightly betrayed. The look flickered to his mom, who was shell-shocked at Rey’s interference.

With a light smile, she explained, “I like your dreams better.” She looked at Han, “The Force is so weird. I get pulled into dreams all the time. I swear, it’s the only reason I got through to Ben.” She looked at Leia, “Being in someone else’s mind is crazy but it clears everything else out. Only the truth lives there.”

Leia took a deep breath, “Darth Vader is Luke and I’s father.” Ben shot out of his chair only to immediately be commanded, “Sit down!” Leia’s Force-power shined through as her voice echoed through the dining room. Ben, predictably, sat down and grabbed Rey’s hand under the table.

“As I was saying,” She glared at her son, “Darth Vader is my father. His true name was Anakin Skywalker. Luke says that he failed our father, because even after overcoming the light for his son, Anakin still died in the end.” Her fist balled up, “That  _will never_  excuse the man’s actions. He  _destroyed_ my home world. He murdered millions. He enslaved  _children_  as Stormtroopers even as a former slave himself.”

Han placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder in support and Leia leaned into his embrace. Ben’s eyes lightened at his parent’s unusual intimacy. This truth, though hidden from him, hurt his mother more than she could express.

Ben stood up from the table and took a breath before calming stating, “I need to meditate on this. Please have a lovely dinner.” He approached the door but stopped before leaving. “Mom,” He murmured as he turned around. “I’m sorry that your parents died at the hand of a monster, and I’m sorry your father died before you got to know him.”

Rey grinned, “That went better than expected.” She was pleased with herself, and then turned to Leia. “When the time comes, you should run for First Senator. But! The truth should come out first. Corruption lives everywhere, even in the New Republic. Be careful who you trust.”

“Just who are you?” Leia asked, so unused to a young child so well-spoken. Rey had never lied to her, not once during the whole day, but her entire dream story was hidden in omissions. “Why did you make me tell Ben such horrible things?”

Rey calmed her mind and simply stated, “I come from nothing. I am nothing. My parents were drunks who traded me for money.” Leia looked horrified, but Rey continued, “Everyone needs to know where they come from. Ben deserves to know the truth about who his family is. It doesn’t have to be some pretty story about a princess, a smuggler and a Jedi.”

 

 

They had left that night. Ben didn’t want to see more of his parents. They went to Naboo, exploring without talking, and stayed on-world until Luke sent them another mission, something safer this time.

Ben stayed distant for many months. Rey was forced to tune into his dreams once again, making sure to drive out Snoke’s looming presence when the Sith got too deep into Ben’s mind.

They didn’t talk about what happened, because Ben never liked to talk about his problems. He simply went into battle and got all his anger out. Rey decided that she needed to change his coping mechanism.

There were good days, like her birthday. They had been on Naboo for it, and he took her to the beach. He taught her how to swim and told her that the next time they came back, he would teach her how to fight in the water. Then her birthday passed, and he went back to sulking.

The moment that Ben turned twenty-three, Rey knew that she had to step up her game. This was the year that Ben had  _Fallen_. He was no longer allowed to be angry about his grandfather.

She didn’t take them back to the academy when their mission was over. She took them to Tatooine.

Ben raised an eyebrow at her choice of their time-off. She shrugged, “Your grandfather was a slave. I was too, in a way.” She looked towards the market, “We should solve the problem.”

“There are slaves everywhere, Rey. We can’t take on the whole industry.” Ben pointed out, wanting to help but trying to save his Padawan from a death mission. The two of them alone couldn’t do much.

Rey shrugged, “We can try.” And that was enough.

Luke sent missions requests that went ignored. Leia’s calls were always left unanswered. Whenever Han bothered to message them, Rey deleted them. Neither Ben or Rey wanted to admit failure.

By the time Tatooine was free, Rey was almost sixteen and Ben had never been closer to the Lightside. He was a man now, with his own accomplishments and finally grew out of his family name. They had recruited others into their undertaking, other enslaved species like the Wookiee and Twi'lek. Ben had even managed to recruit a couple of Force-sensitive Togruta women.

Before making their way back to Luke’s academy with the newly freed Force-sensitives who  _asked_  if they could be Jedi like them, Rey made a mistake. She was riding high on their win and did something rash.

She kissed Ben.

Through her entire journey into the past, she made sure that their intimacy level never reached above friendship. Sure, there were close calls. Some hugs that went on too long, waking up curled around each other after falling asleep on the couch, even an  _Incident_  when a slaver got too close to Rey for comfort where the girl had instinctively pressed her whole body into Ben’s front to hide.

But they had never kissed, and Ben reacted as well expected. He was a grown man and she was a teenager. He would never allow himself to corrupt her. He had tried leaving her with Luke, but she wouldn’t allow it.

“You’re leaving me.” Rey let out a whimper, staring up at Ben with wide eyes. She still hadn’t gotten her final grown spurt and stood a foot shorter than him. “You’re  _abandoning_ me, like they did.”

Predictably, Ben caved when he felt her pain through the force. He hadn’t felt such heartbreak from her since the first time they had spoken of her past love. He couldn’t allow her behavior, so he sternly said, “If you want to be my  _Padawan_ , then you can never do… what you did, again. I’ll leave the Order.”

“I can control myself, Ben. It was just… I was so happy. I’m sorry.” She  _was_  sorry. She hadn’t meant to try for another two years. She knew that this Ben loved her, but she would never force what she felt about Kylo onto him. It was just… they were becoming so similar. Ben had grown out his hair and Rey had simply forgotten that there was a difference between the two men she loved.

“You shouldn’t have to control yourself, Rey! You shouldn’t feel that way! Not about me. You’re a child.” Ben was adamant that he was now a monster for seducing a young girl. He felt  _dirty_.

Rey glared, “Just for that, I’m making out with the next teenager I see.” And she did, two hours later when they went to the mess hall at the academy. It was Sula. Miko almost punched her for it, but Sula laughed them both off and kissed Rey again. Ben infuriated Rey by simply laughing at their childish antics.

 

 

Luke told Miko that he wasn’t allowed to be Knighted until his anger was under control, so Miko sought out Ben’s advice. While his attention was on the other Padawan, Rey caught up with Sula’s advanced training. They didn’t have much time to practice on Tatooine, so for the first time in this life, Rey was behind everyone else.

Even Sandu, who had become a Padawan years after she had, was beating her in training combat.

Reigning in Miko’s anger took longer than expected, and by the time he was ready for his Knighthood, Sula and Rey joined him. Luke gave them a solo mission, “Restore the Jedi temple on Ilum and bring back kyber crystals so that you can make your own lightsabers. You’re old enough to travel into the depths of ice now.”

Ben was furious, and even Kress thought it was a death mission. Luke didn’t care what they thought, however. He stood by their task to prove that they were worthy. Later, after the three Padawan had left, Luke would admit that Yoda told him to do it. This fact just enraged Ben more.

Kress was the only reason Ben was able to last the ten months that the Padawans were gone. It also helped that Rey sent weekly updates.

When they returned, Rey was wielding two duel-bladed yellow sabers.

Ben had never been prouder, and when he deemed her a Knight, there were actual tears in his eyes. Rey refused to admit that she cried after the ceremony was over, but Ben knew her better than anyone else.

They didn’t have time to celebrate though. Her first mission as a Knight was to protect the Chancellor of the New Republic. Ben hadn’t seen his mother since the Vader bomb dropped but he refused to leave her unprotected. “As a Knight, I claim leadership in this mission,” Rey declared on their way to the ship.

“I’ll listen to whatever you say, sunshine.” Ben grinned at his new nickname for her, deemed after she had shown him her saber. It was just too good. Yellow, for the  _Rey_  of sunshine.

Rey rolled her eyes, like she had every single time he had mentioned the teasing. His smile was infectious, though, and she couldn’t resist winking at him and shooting back, “Keep that up and I’ll have to kiss that grin off your face.”

Ben had stayed silent for the rest of the trip, until landing. “Your birthday was two months ago.”

“It was,” Rey confirmed, raising her eyebrow. “I threw cake at your face with the Force and Luke told me that if I use the Force inappropriately that it could lead to the darkside. I then threw cake at  _his_ face with my hand.”

Ben nodded at the memory, surprisingly keeping his face impartial and not laughing, “You’re eighteen.”

“I am,” Rey grinned, seeing where this was going. She could barely believe it, but she was going to help him process in every single way she could. “And you’re not my teacher anymore.”

Ben looked into her eyes, “Do you remember when you were sixteen?”

“I do.”

Ben ran his hand through his hair, “That day, when you kissed me? You opened in a way I’d never seen before. There were so many memories of us. It was like years’ worth of dreams.” He flushed. “You’ve always loved me like, like  _that_.”

Rey laughed, settling down on his lap, “You are my first friend. My first teacher. My first love.” She placed her forehead on his and breathed in, “I will love you in every single possible way I can.” Rey opened up their connection again, which had grown as they grew together. It would never be the same as she had with Kylo, but it was better.

Rey replayed her favorite moments together in her mind and sent those thoughts to Ben. There was nothing of her time with Kylo, not like the first time this happened. That finally explained why Ben had reacted so badly to their first kiss. He was a prudish man, anything sexual was not to be spoken of.

In that way, he was too much like his uncle.

“We’re going to get kicked out of the Order,” Ben mused as he ducked to give her a light kiss. He didn’t really care, instead imagining an empire of freeing the enslaved and saving the galaxy with their friends.

Rolling her eyes, Rey scoffed, “I am the best Jedi that Luke has. He wouldn’t dare try to kick you  _or_  me out.” She curved to the side a nipped Ben’s ear, “We can do whatever we want. We can free those who cannot free themselves. We can protect people from those who mean to harm them. We can save this Galaxy from collapse.” She pulled back, grinning up at him, “And we’ll do it together.”

“Together,” Ben agreed.


End file.
